There was a particularly beautiful island at Summerdew Ridge, which was entirely constructed into a flower garden.
A charming lady with violet hair and a pair of black feather wings slowly descended among the fireflies inside the garden. When she touched the ground, her wings slowly melted and returned to being ordinary arms, while her sharp talons became human feet. She took a moment to bound up her hair, which was messed by the wind, before heading toward an ancient-looking castle in the middle of the garden.
Another woman in the garden stopped her before she could reach her destination. This one was a beautiful, old-fashioned lady wearing a luxuriously decorated skirt. Her face looked absolutely stunning, except that there were many small scars scattered around her cheeks.
“The master is speaking to a guest, Swan. No one is allowed inside the castle right now. You can tell me if you have a message to deliver.”
Swan went down on one knee and kissed the lady in front of her on the foot. “Lady Paye, my Wizard Eye detected energy explosions coming from Death Loop. I checked and found traces of a battle over there.”
“Someone was fighting at Death Loop?”
“My inspection spell suggested that it was an illusionist fighting against another group. But it ended pretty fast. The grim jellyfish in the water are feeding on several corpses. I think they are rogue apprentices from the Centipede Guild.”
“Centipede Guild... why did they leave their sewers and show up here? Are they possibly after ‘that’ as well?”
“No.” Swan shook her head. “Apart from us, there’s only someone in Song of the Deep who learned about the mysterious dimension. There is no way the Centipede Guild can get their hands on such information.”
“I see. So are they only hunting for the illusionist? Who is it?”
“The visions left by the grim jellyfish told me that he’s the guardian of The Limpet.”
“Then he’s not related to our business either. The Floating Mech City told us about their sailing plans this year. That ship is supposed to arrive recently. Guess we’ll leave them alone.”
When Lady Paye was going to head back into the castle, Swan hesitated and decided to add something, “It seems The Limpet is currently trapped inside Specter Basin. Should we send someone to get them out?”
“Specter Basin?” Lady Paye showed a disgusted look. “So, when that tornado earlier invited a guest from the Valley of Hurricane, it also sent a ship into those god-forsaken parts? And no, leave them there. We’re not those saint wannabes from the Orphanage. We only agreed to Floating Mech City that we’ll stay out of each other’s business. We’re not obliged to help some mortals.”
While Lady Paye left Swan’s view, Swan glanced back at the direction of Specter Basin.
“Even Master would not go anywhere near that place... I wonder if ‘she’ can make it out?”
...
“Unable to sail?” Angor asked in shock.
Helen explained in a small voice so that nobody heard them, “While most of the damages are easy to manage, the two broken masts will take some time, especially the central mast. We need to find the right materials and do a complete overhaul. Improvised stuff cannot hold against the strong wind.”
Angor glanced at The Limpet, which was being pulled into the sea again by the sailors.
They had salvaged the fallen poles and were slowly hammering iron plates onto them.
“This is not enough?” Angor pointed to the working repairmen.
“It is, if we’re going into ordinary waters. But definitely not for Devil’s Water. If we run into gales or storms using makeshift parts, they’ll just snap again.” Helen looked down. “Erwin and I have not told the others about this so that we don’t break their spirit.”
“Do you have any ways to fully repair them now?”
Helen shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
“We CAN try setting sail as it is and pray for good weather. Otherwise... The Limpet will end up as a drifting plank in the middle of the sea,” said Erwin, as he left the workers and joined them.
“That’s pretty much impossible around here,” Helen replied, deadpanned.
Angor observed the broken mast on the ground and held his chin.
“There... There is another way,” Helen said somewhat uncertainly. “We can try asking for help from Summerdew Ridge. There is a mortal town on one of the islands. Surely they have somewhere to repair ships?”
“Let’s not,” Erwin denied. “It’s already a miracle if they do not kill us on sight.”
Helen was thinking about a woman she rescued from the sea before when she was still working at Blackberry Waters. It was almost 20 years ago, and that woman claimed that she was a witch from Summerdew Ridge and that she was willing to return the favor in the future, should Helen run into any trouble.
But after all this time, Helen wasn’t sure if that witch still remembered this matter.
As she wondered whether to reveal this, Angor suddenly said, “I can handle the repairs.”
Both Helen and Erwin gave him a surprised look.
“I don’t know how to fix ships, but it shouldn’t be hard to get the broken masts to their original state.”
Without further ado, he floated to The Limpet, and under the astonished gazes of everyone, he used Thaw to apply some sturdy enchanted metal parts to the fractures. It only took him several minutes for the broken poles to look whole again.
He then landed on the ground and brushed his hands. “Tell your expert to take a look. Is it good enough?”
Helen and Erwin exchanged a look before Erwin moved to the mast and inspected it in awe. He just realized that the mast looked even better than before. The new structure looked strong enough to withstand direct hits from tidal waves!
Helen was equally excited when hearing Erwin’s conclusion, but at the same time, she felt mixed emotions conflicting in her mind.
The monster plants, undead spirits, a broken ship... Angor had prevented countless tragedies that were deadly to mortals under a few minutes.
Previously, Helen regarded supernatural beings as arrogant and cocky people with limited magical powers. Yet what she saw from Angor was completely different.
In her view, Angor was strong, cultured, and gracious at the same time.
And for the first time in her life, Helen wished that she could join the world of supernaturals and become someone so brilliant.
When Angor went to discuss their following plan with Erwin, Helen looked at the direction of Summerdew Ridge.
“Guess I have to talk to Swan when I have a chance... even if there is only the slightest hope, I’m going to become a wizard like Mister Padt.”
...
After replacing the pole mast and moving the wounded into their cabins, Erwin gave his order to raise anchor and finally leave the terrible island.
It was about nine o’clock in the morning, yet the Specter Basin was as dark as the night. The surface of the water below and the dark clouds above were like two impenetrable curtains that blocked all light.
This reminded Angor of his days spent in Dark Castle, where the outside was usually so dim.
They had decided to return to Death Loop and go for Wintertide from there. Even though the environment seemed harmless at this moment, they would not go any deeper inside Specter Basin, which was believed to be one of the worst routes at Devil’s Water.
However, the way back didn’t remain peaceful. A giant vortex suddenly blocked their path.
Immediately, Erwin told the helmsman to change direction. Such vortexes were even deadlier compared to storms and giant tides since falling into them was usually a guaranteed death.
“It’s getting bigger too. Do a full turnabout so that we don’t get dragged into it!”
After Erwin commanded The Limpet to retreat toward the opposite direction, they soon saw the small island that trapped them a moment ago.
They sailed past the island and were looking for a way to go around the dangerous area when another island appeared in their view.
The most obvious choice was to change direction again and avoid this island, but the chaotic and violent energy signatures coming from the island suddenly attracted Angor’s attention.